October Skies Art Festival & Open House
10.22.2022 - The FREE October Skies Art Festival & Open House at the Harvester Performance and Event Center held in conjunction with the Pumpkin Festival on Saturday in Historic Downtown Smithville, TN, was a very promising premiere of what we hope will become an annual celebration of Autumn with Art, Food, Music, and Fun!
The exclusive sponsor for our first ever October Skies Art Show and Festival was Papa John’s Pizza, representing their newly opened location in Smithville! Richard Mominee, Manager, and his crew were on-hand serving up Papa John’s Pizza by the slice. Papa John’s in Smithville, TN - WELCOME!
Artists displaying on the Mid Town Patio and International Hall of the Harvester were:
Tabitha Thierjung: Glass Art, Artist in Residence at Appalachian Center for Craft.
Matthew Antoniak: Wood Art, Custom Guitars
Rolinda Stotts: Bella Rotta Tactile Painting – she live-painted actual artwork during October Skies!
Andy Murphy: Fine Art Photography
Jane Forkhum: Crooked Creek Designs
Bob Stancil: Wood Art
Kyle Coffman: Live Wedding Painting
Garrett Morris: Steel work (he also created all the custom steel work for the Harvester!)
We’d like to give special thanks to the Visual Arts Society from Tennessee Tech School of Art, Craft, & Design for displaying at October Skies – these edgy young artists cast pottery, worked metal, and created art from other media all day long – we definitely support this type of artistic endeavor and innovation at TTU, and look forward to working closely with them in the future.
The live music started at 11:30a.m. with “guitar wizard” Larry Pinkerton, from Murfreesboro, TN, who set the “Art Show Mood” perfectly with his unbelievable repertoire of “hits” from Fats Waller and Hoagie Carmichael, to Stevie Wonder, and then coming back around to his primary forte’ The Beatles. Perfect volume, perfect song selection, perfect execution…Tasty, tasty!
At 3:00p.m., Jimmy Wayne Garrett, with assistance from Kelly Clark on backup vocals, took to the stage with his original songs, plus gems from Merle Haggard and other crowd-pleaser songs from his “busker” days out in Eureka Springs, AR. This dynamic young man is indeed blessed with many talents, including in-depth podcast interviews with some of the very interesting folks he has met on his journeys. I guarantee we’ll be hearing a lot more from JWG!
Then, at 6:00 p.m. our “go-to” resident artist Seth Willoughby, returned to the Harvester Center Stage with Ethan Green in tow – Ethan brought along his very adequate small compact Fender amp and a whole box full of pedals that he proceeded to use expertly to provide textured fills, accents, and HOT solos with his guitar- a perfect accompaniment for Seth’s straight-ahead vocal stylings and solid acoustic guitar work.
Along with great art and great music, the Harvester Center also provided a superb complimentary Charcuterie Board from the Royal House of Cheese, and “Free Tacos” (What??!!) from 1:00-3:00 p.m., courtesy of the Harvester and Tio’s Taco Truck.
One of the biggest kicks of the day for all of us associated with the Harvester was watching people who were visiting Smithville for the first time (who happened to wander into town on 10/22 for the Pumpkin Festival, and the October Skies Art Festival & Open House to witness) to see firsthand all we had goin’ on…from the sunshine, the beverages, the music, the artists, the lighting, to the vibrations…everything came together, to form something that was a unique, welcomed change for Downtown Smithville. We’re grateful for the turnout and loved meeting new folks from all over the map – we introduced a diverse group of folks from Florida, Washington DC, and New Hampshire to the local vibrations of West Walnut and all of Downtown Smithville!
The Burlap Room continues to stay open late most Thursdays until 8pm, but the Harvester will host the majority of events until spring. Up next at the Harvester is Finally Fridays - the first three Fridays of November with live music, drinks, Yaya's (Soul Food, Soul Good) Food Truck and more! Friday, 11/4 - Austin Grimm, Friday, 11/11 - Jordan Morack Jazz Trio, and Friday, 11/18 - Sounds Like Harmony. And join us December 3 for Holidays at the Harvester with the Jason Lee McKinney Band. Stay up-to-date with all the events in the Bert Driver Network (Nursery, Burlap Room, and the newly-opened Harvester Event Center) by signing up for our Burlapper Newsletter - exciting announcements coming this week! All tickets for all Burlap Room and Harvester Event Center can be purchased at burlaproom.eventbrite.com.
